So I've been lurking for a couple of months on these threads and have used the advice to narrow down my search greatly. I've spent over $2500 on DHGate orders, though some were repeats for searching for the perfect copy (buy 5, flip 4). I figured I might have some interesting data points and it's time to give back to the community. So I'll start from the beginning and work my way forward on my orders so I have links.
I have a Cloud Evo and EQ so I can share experiences with those.
http://www.dhgate.com/product/two-f...w/214223067.html#myaccount_orderdetail-1-null
Kathy Recycler: Very meh piece, when you fill the water up enough for the recycle to function, the piece is very restrictive because of the small up-pipe. When you under fill it so you can use both the return tube and up-tube for airflow, it works quite well as an inline perc, thought not it's original intention. Very thin MP which I did not like, felt it would chip easily. Would not recommend.
http://www.dhgate.com/product/2015-...s/229098432.html#myaccount_orderdetail-2-null
Kathy Egg: Back in March this was a nice attempt at the egg, looks nothing like the real thing obviously but it hit quite well, very low restriction. However, like most kathy pieces, the entire thing was very thin from mouthpiece to base.
http://www.dhgate.com/product/9-inc...s/235718669.html#myaccount_orderdetail-1-null
CCG 9" colored Eggs: I got 2 of each color. The first batch had a bunch of uncut perc, one had 3/7 percs uncut. I only got a $5 discount for that, I blame myself for accepting and not pressing harder. They hit alright, I personally liked the way the kathy egg hit a little more, however the CCG is thicker. Wouldn't really recommend these unless you really wanted the smaller egg with color on the outside. Could be because of my experience from an early batch.
http://www.dhgate.com/product/2015-...s/233845598.html#myaccount_orderdetail-1-null
CCG 11" Egg: I got about 9 or more of these at different times. Lots of data on this one. So first I got the UFO pin hole perc with a tilted joint. My buddy who has the real MS egg hit it side by side and thought it fired very close to the real deal, in fact, throughout 3 iterations, this was his favorite. V1 has an initial drag that makes a little jet noise. V2 has what I call the china seed of life perc:
This V2 perc has more drag because it fires to the bottom, and IMO functions worse for an egg due to the way the bubbles are traveling as they hit the egg. It's all upwards velocity, rather than some sideways velocity to move along the walls of the egg.
The V3 has the nice shower head perc with 7-8 slits cut, hits very well. I kept a personal. Though on the V3's CCG started bending the necks like stepchild:
Anyways, here's a very interesting data point, we have the means to weigh all of them. The real MS clocked in around 460g of glass. V1 weighed ~450g, V2 ~360g, V3 530-580g of glass!! The V3's are very thick, the CCG eggs all have dished out bases which weigh less than the thick and solid MS base, which means there is more glass in the actual egg it self on the CCG V3!
The V3 had variation in how thick the upper and lower hemisphere's 4 joints were. When they were thinner, water tended to get trapped in the upper hemisphere, forming a recycle action which takes a second to drain down after you stop hitting it. Those with thicker joints here didn't recycle.
MP wise V1 and V2 were very crude, sharp edges on the interior and exterior of the MP. V3 rounded these edges out.
http://www.dhgate.com/product/2014-...e/214701656.html#myaccount_orderdetail-1-null
Steven's FC-187 V2: Very versatile piece, I would keep one if I didn't have the FC-186 already. I used this for a bit with the EQ, the amount of diffusion on the matrix perc really kills flavor though. The 1st hit was kind of eh, and the following hits didn't have much taste. But diffuses well and hits smooth, zero drag piece, just like Yingmin5's toro XL clone. Also this piece doesn't have a vertical joint which pushes water back after you stop hitting, this is important for something like the EQ, where push back knocks an elbow pack into the cyclone (doh!)
http://www.dhgate.com/product/2015-...r/228627112.html#myaccount_orderdetail-1-null
Kathy twin matrix piece: I was worried because I found the thread after I ordered and someone noted that the percs work too well and you get water in your mouth. Happy to say that wasn't the case. The piece was thin, same thickness (thinness) as the Kathy egg, same MP as well. I would fill the bottom chamber completely and just start pulling hard for a while, this seemed to fill both layers perfectly. If you like lots of diffusion with your dabs, this piece would work well due to the small volume.
http://www.dhgate.com/product/new-1...h/213693327.html#myaccount_orderdetail-2-null
Kathy Recycler 2: This piece really surprised me! I got this when I was at like an [8] one night, thought the thin body looked cool. The perc is pretty bad, only about 60% of them fire due to it needing a perfectly level surface as well as perc placement to fire all correctly. The perc fires very chuggy and provides minimal diffusion. Now this ended up being the perfect combination for vapor taste! This was like the FC-710 for vapes due to how much taste it left in there. If you think about it, it's a similar concept with the lack of (or controlled) diffusion.
http://www.dhgate.com/myaccount/ord...geload&rfxid=ff8080814cdb963e014cea2042f31a98
Steven's Torus V1: Echo what everyone has said already. Chuggy, amazing quality, but in the end the need for giant lungs just to get the thing to function is not worth it. Was lucky to be able to sell this at cost due to the high initial cost.
http://www.dhgate.com/myaccount/ord...geload&rfxid=ff8080814d0072eb014d1db4cab466a5
Yingmin5 GB-194: Amazing piece. My buddy has a real Toro XL 8 arm -> 12 arm. They are exactly the same just without a logo. The quality is unreal, I've gotten 5 and all 5 were the exact same, they have their production line consistency down! For the dude that was worried about the lack of joint support. I wouldn't be, the joints were very sturdy and well made, had no worries with the EVO up there. Lots of diffusion, zero drag, and no push back. Very similar to the FC-186 in terms of feeling, both MP's were thick and felt great.
http://www.dhgate.com/myaccount/ord...geload&rfxid=ff8080814d0072eb014d1db4cbda66ae
Steven's FC-Mini: fantastic copy of the MS mini. My buddy has the real thing and I posted side by side pics in the FC-Mini's review, so you can see them there. The size is the same, Steven's can's diameter was larger by ~4mm if I remember correctly. The cap was also 5-6mm taller than the real thing. Functions great though, however, I have a hard time understanding the cost for so little glass and a relatively simple piece. But it's the only mini copy with the barbell perc. Unfortunately the MS swings do not fit and is not compatible with this piece.
I do have one in my personal collection though as a take to the beach piece.
http://www.dhgate.com/product/8-inc...r/212556170.html#myaccount_orderdetail-1-null
SSS Rasta bubbler: Shipped super quick to socal as SSS always does. nothing special shower head/slit perc, just some working. Never even used it, selling for a while. The colors are kind of faint, when you have a light behind it the colors really fade. Looks better when it's dark behind the piece.
Looks like I'm over 10,000 words soon need to split into 2 posts.
) and I would ABSOLUTELY buy another v1 if those v2 changes were going ahead...
